The promise from the makers of Plug-in Hybrids has been 150 miles per gallon (63.8 km/l) gasoline/electric vehicles that you plug in at home and at your office to recharge them. A report in the February 22, 2009 issue of the Seattle Times talked about real-world tests conducted on vehicles owned by the City of Seattle. Instead of 150 mpg (63.8 km/l), the study concluded that the practical mileage was 51 mpg (21.7 km/l) or only a third of what was expected!

The problems go deeper, including the cost of the batteries themselves. As vehicle manufacturers around the world compete for lithium and cobalt, the critical elements necessary for the high-powered batteries, prices are soaring and the adequacy of the supply is being questioned. Further, these minerals are found in remote and not always friendly locations: Bolivia, Russia and China.

On February 23, 2009, National Public Radio (NPR) ran a story questioning when electric vehicles would be available in quantity and whether they will be economically viable and will meet heightened consumer expectations: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101024296

While deliveries of some electric vehicles are beginning such as the Tesla Roadster, the Tesla factory is in financial difficulty requiring $350M in loans from the Federal Government to stay afloat. Prices for the Roadster are a base of $109,000 and $60,000 for the new sedan model.

General Motors has the Chevy Volt poised for deliveries starting in 2010 but will likely miss that date except for a few prototypes. GM had to put on hold the factory to build the electric motor for the Volt because of its financial difficulties. Speculation is that GM will iterate the Volt's design based on small quantities of vehicles over the next 5 years before they get to full production.